Renowned Leader in Pediatric Neurosurgery to head the Division of Neurosurgery at Lurie Children's

Sandi Lam, MD, MBA, has been appointed the new division head of Neurosurgery at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She also will be appointed a Professor of Neurological Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Lam will assume the role in December. 

“We are very excited to have someone of Dr. Lam’s unique skills who has made exceptional contributions in the areas ’s of pediatric cerebrovascular surgery, epilepsy surgery and craniofacial surgery,” said Marleta Reynolds, MD, Surgeon-in-Chief; Chair, Department of Surgery and Professor of Surgery at Feinberg School of Medicine. “Her clinical experience in complex surgeries coupled with her extensive outcomes research in neurological surgery make her an excellent choice to lead our already premier pediatric neurosurgery program.”  

A native of Hong Kong, she received her medical degree from Feinberg School of Medicine graduating with the highest honors -Alpha Omega Alpha membership.  Dr. Lam also holds an MBA from the George Washington University School of Business in Washington, DC. She completed her internship in surgery at UCLA prior to her residency in neurological surgery at UCLA. She subsequently went to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh where the obtained additional fellowship training in pediatric neurosurgery. In 2011, she joined the faculty at the University of Chicago, and in 2013 joined Texas Children’s Hospital and became an Associate Professor with tenure at Baylor.  

In addition to her clinical expertise, Dr. Lam applies minimally invasive surgery through endoscopic approaches for epilepsy and craniosynostosis. Her areas of research include health services research for pediatric neurosurgery and the analysis of national and institutional data to look at patterns of care, healthcare utilization, and health outcomes to understand disparities and to develop models for improving healthcare delivery. She has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals focusing not only on clinical outcomes but also health behaviors which influence and impact delivery of neurosurgical care. She has been funded by multiple organizations to examine patterns of care in pediatric epilepsy as well as to define methodologies for comparative effectiveness of surgical treatments in pediatric hydrocephalus. She is a member of the editorial board of Journal of Neurosurgery, Pediatrics, the leading pediatric journal in our field. She is also an Associate Editor Pediatrics: Surgical Neurology International.

Lurie Children’s Division of Neurosurgery is one of the busiest in North America, seeing more than 5,000 outpatients and performing approximately 1,000 surgeries a year. The program’s services are renowned outside the state, as well — U.S.News & World Report has ranked Lurie Children’s as 11th in the nation for pediatric neurology and neurosurgery.